52 Defensive magic

Today's classes were over. James managed to turn Sirius and the others away from wasting time and went straight to the library. Something the marauders could not believe.

James under the guidance of his father before entering Hogwarts learned and practiced martial magic referring to the forms of magic used defensively and offensively in magical duels. He knows that Voldemort's followers will not use clean means, and in combat situations, he may be under unfavorable conditions.

'I must learn and practice more defensive magic,' thought James as he entered the library for the second time at Hogwarts. There were hundreds or rather thousands of books.

He didn't know where he would find the defensive magic books on so many shelves, that it would take hours, so he decided to ask the librarian.

The librarian was a slender young woman with a very straight face. She had black eyes and pale skin.

"Mm, excuse me?" said James, trying to get the attention of the woman who was reading a book behind the counter.

"What do you need?" she asked in an irritated tone, looking up from her book.

"I would like to know where the books on defensive magic are located," requested James.

The librarian, named Irma Prince, looked at him with a strange expression. She could tell by James's face and height that he was one of the first-year students or at most a second-year, so it was odd that this one wanted to learn defensive magic which is a much more advanced subject.

However, she didn't think much of it and answered vaguely, "Section four, corridor six," she said as she turned her attention back to her book.

'Looks like Lily was right,' thought James a little disgusted by the librarian's attitude. When he had first come with Lily to the library, Lily had told him that the librarian was very lazy in helping the students find the books they needed.

James started walking through the gigantic library. However, he didn't know where aisle six was, rather from where do you count aisle one from, left to right? Or from right to left? There was no signage.

With no other option, he decided to go into an aisle and search the books to see if he could find anything.

'Alchemy, ancient art and science' read James the name of the book that was hundreds of pages long.

'This isn't it. There are a lot of alchemy books...' thought James as he pushed aside the bookshelf to go to another one. He kept looking but couldn't find what he wanted. Books on ancient runes and magical theory. Muggle studies. History of magic.

'Where the hell is corridor 6?' thought James with less patience as he put the book back in its place.

"James?"

Hearing his name being called, James turned and saw a familiar blonde girl. It was Penny Warrington, the girl he met months ago at the quidditch world final.

"Hi, Penny," James greeted.

Since he entered Hogwarts he rarely spoke to Penny as they were both in different houses, and James spent all his time with the marauders. Besides Penny also had her group of friends. From what little he heard of her she was one of the most popular girls in the first year.

"I'm surprised to see you here," said Penny, who was holding a book in her arms.

"Why?" asked James.

"I come to the library regularly, and this is the first time I've met you here," replied Penny, who had a very strict study routine and was one of the freshmen who visited the library the most.

"The library is big. It's not the first time I've come here," said James lying through his teeth. Lily had also treated him as lazy or so he saw that on her face, when he told her that he never came to the library.

He's been reading magic books like crazy since he was eight. He could take a couple of months off, right?

"Mm, if you say so..." said Penny, who didn't believe James much, as she would have noticed James' messy jet hair, plus he was the person who saved her life.

In the event where she almost died with her sister by a troll and was saved by James, she couldn't think things through very well, because of how nervous and terrified she was, but after that, she was able to analyze everything better. Although it wasn't a nice memory to recall repeatedly.

Penny saw James use very advanced charms. Since she came to Hogwarts she could understand more accurately how advanced they were. For example, Expelliarmus also known as the disarming charm, usually this charm is learned in the second year, and she could see how James had a greater mastery than a beginner.

This made Penny interested in James, as he was not at all common. When she heard about the incident where James used Flipendo on the Slytherin boys she didn't think much of it, as she had seen him using more advanced charms.

"Are you looking for a particular book?" asked Penny, changing the subject.

Hearing this made James's little light bulb go off at the top of his head. From what Penny said she comes to the library regularly, so she must know where corridor six, section four is located.

"Yes, but I can't find corridor 6. Do you know where it is?" asked James hopefully.

"Don't you know the library? I mean, if you're a person who's been here a few times already, you should know that," said Penny, looking at James with an expression that looked like a mix of a judging look and an amused grimace.

'She caught me...' thought James, looking at the slight smile on Penny's face.

"Well...you know the library is big, and I'm not very good at getting my bearings," said James, lying through his teeth again.

Penny couldn't help but let out a laugh as she saw that James didn't want to accept that he didn't know the library, "Okay, follow me," she said as she took the lead, and James followed her.

"This is corridor six," Penny said. James knew it was the right thing to ask her for directions, as he had gone too far, and it would have taken him a long time to get here.

"Thanks," James said.

"It's nothing. I've got to go. I have to meet up with some mates from my house to help them with something. See you," Penny said as she headed to the table area.

'She's nice and helps her mates,' thought James with a strange expression. Putting those thoughts aside, he headed for section four which luckily was signposted in the corridor.

"Let's see, defensive, defensive magic..." whispered James, looking for books that might help him.

"Here's one... Wilbert Slinkhard's Defensive Magical Theory. It might be useful" James said as he picked it up and kept looking.

After searching for a while, James had several books and went to an empty table to start reading them. In addition to the first book, he found the following:

The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Practical Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts

'4 thick books. Let's start reading and see which ones are the best,' thought James as he opened page 1 of Defensive Magic Theory.

Since he would have to face dark wizards, the best thing to do was to learn defense against the dark arts. The most powerful defensive charm he managed to learn after much practice was: Protego.

Also known as the shield charm that protects the user with an invisible shield reflecting spells and blocking physical entities.

This charm was one of the most advanced and most difficult for James to learn. He has not even mastered it, as he was able to cast it successfully relatively recently. The first time he used it in a real fight was against the troll, and if it wasn't for the half-armored shield that managed to absorb part of the blow, he would have died.

Time passed, and James read the book with concentration.

"Who the hell wrote this garbage?" muttered James, closing the book with a frown as he read the author's name again to make sure he didn't read any more of his books.

He read up to chapter ten, and instead of teaching you defensive magic, the author tries to discourage the use of defensive magic. Having a pacifist approach. For example, chapter three was titled: Reasons for non-aggressive responses to magical attacks. Another chapter was entitled: "Peaceful Response and Negotiation."

'Does he want me to stand still while a deadly attack is launched at me?' thought James as he moved on to the next book titled: The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts.

'I hope it's not garbage...' he thought, opening to page one.

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